(bdw-b-033) When's Your Birthday
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: Birthdays are meant to be shared with those you love, but they can't be shared if your not with the ones you love. That is the way it is for the Shiba clan.


_Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach. This is for the Bleach Diversity Challenge. Challenge b.33 is to write a story 501-1000 words about a pairing that is not your OTP. OTP here means preferred pairing, not one-true-pairing._

**When's Your Birthday**

A crisp fall breeze blew with the sweet scent of the autumn leaves accompanied by the sound of chairs scrapping the floor as the students left the classroom. Masaki reached for her book bag and let it swing in front of her as a grin. One of her friends titled her head. "Are you meeting you're boyfriend again today? Doesn't your aunt not like him?"

Masaki's brown eyes blinked a couple of times. "He's actually not my boyfriend." She watched as the girls gave her look of disbelief. "I'm not saying I don't have feelings for him. Isshin's rather clueless, but that's one of the things I like about him. See you at school tomorrow."

Her feet scrunched against the sidewalk as she headed to the cafe she intended to meet Isshin at. A small shop caught her eye. She pushed the door open causing the bell to jingle and looked around. That days date of October twenty-seventh was displayed on the stores counter. She headed through the aisles with a smile on her face. "_I wonder what kind of gift I should get for him. He did after all save my life._"

A sudden thud caused Masaki to let out a breath of surprise. She turned her head to see a woman looking at items to protect from the cold. The woman looked up and smiled at her. "Oh. Hello."

Masaki's eyes looked at the woman. The woman's reitsu was obviously that of a Shinigami. "What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for a gift for my husband. Today happens to be his birthday. He's not really looking forward to this birthday though." The woman held up two scarves. One was blue with an ocean motif while the other was orange with a fire motif. "My husband would usually like this ocean motif, but the orange one is something someone dear to hm would have liked."

"I guess that person is no longer around anymore?" Masaki leaned forward.

"No. He's not." A sad smile came to the woman's face. "That's why this brthday is hard on him. It's the first birthday without ths person." The woman titled her head. "Are you looking for a gift for your boyfrend."

Masaki's smile widened. "No. He's actually not my boyfriend yet."

The woman held up the two scarves. "Which do you think he would like? I mean this guy friend of yours?"

The young Quincy's finger pointed at the scarf with the flame first, but then pulled to the blue one. "I don't know why, but this one."

The woman handed her the scarf. "I see. Then you should definitely get him this one."

**M**

The young Shinigami sat at the small cafe table. The cool breeze blew past him as he leaned back and stared off into space. "_October twenty-seventh. I wonder what Kaien is doing today. I wonder if he is feeling as down in the dumps as I am. Likely for a different reason though as he thinks I'm dead._"

"Isshin?" The man's head twisted suddenly to see Masaki staring at him.

"Oh... hello Masaki. It's really nice of you to teach me about the ins and outs of the living world."

"It's no problem. You did after all save my life and see me naked."

Isshin jerked back and held up his hands in a cross. "You aren't one of those girls who thinks that I've got to marry you just because I saw you naked are you."

"Nope." The girl's bright smile helped to lift some of the clouds in his mind. "By the way. You've not told me when your birthday is."

The young man could feel the color leave his face. "When my birthday is?"

"Yes. When is your birthday. I would like to give you a gift on your birthday."

"_Shit. I can't very well tell her that today is my birthday. She's ask why I was so depressed on my birthday and I'd have to tell her why. I don't want her to feel guilty just because I can't see my twin._" Isshin took a deep breath and spoke in a squeak. "December tenth."

"Really? That doesn't exactly sound right."

"It is December tenth!" The former captain of the tenth division chocked out the words. "Why would you think it wasn't?"

"Well... the number ten was on the back of that haori you wore."

Isshin could fill the corner of his mouth twitch. "_... and December is the birth month of my third seat... who Kaien and Miyako wanted to adopt._" He continued to smile at her despite the corner of his mouth twisting up. "No. That is my birthday."

"All right then." The girl suddenly held out a box to him. "Happy birthday."

The young man stared at the gift box. "Wait..."

"I've not had a chance to give you a birthday gift before, have I?"

"Well... no." Isshin looked up with her as his mouth twisted into a frown because of the confusion he felt. He carefully took the gift from her hands and opened it revealing the scarf with the ocean on it. "_Kaien... he's going to kill me once he finds me._" The man could feel a few uncharacteristic tears escape from his eyes. His hands gripped the scarf and wiped them away as a goofy smile spread across his face. "Thank you. The gift is very wonderful Masaki."

"I'm glad. You really seemed down today Isshin. Actually... you seem to have been down as today approached."

Isshin paused. "_Does she know?_" His words choked out again. "I'm sorry. A guy crying in front of you. It's so not cool."

That what he was worried about though. "Don't worry. I like you because you're not very cool."

The young man felt the corner of his mouth twitch. "_Not cool? That's not what the girls in soul society._"

Every year after that she gave him a present on December tenth, but also one on the twenty-seventh of October.

_Note – The birthdays of all the Shiba clan members are in October except for Isshin's. Isshin's birthday is noted as being in December, but this may not be his real birthday much like other characters like Rangiku don't list their real birthdays. It is also never confirmed whether Kaien died before Isshin disappeared or after._


End file.
